Posted on 17-10-2002

Time Travel Companions
By Alan Marston

The first observation of the self-conscious mind is that the future never
looks like the past, actually, that's the very essence of the concept
humans use to frame existence, it's called time. Yet this essence of
essences escapes the conceptual framework of almost all politicians and
almost all the people they purport to represent, and every individual pays
for that huge blind spot, many with their lives.

Unlike millions of species war has never been extinguished, unlike millions
of species war has evolved fast enough to maintain a constant presence,
unlike millions of species war has gone global. Whether the modern
individual accepts it or not, to the extent we each have bought into the
western way we have sought the company of its shadowy fellow travellors,
Envy, Greed, Fear and Hate. Envy and Greed are having a hard time of it at
the moment after flourishing in the 90's, now its Fear and Hate's turn to
step into the media spotlight, and what a spotlight that is! Expect to see
Fear and Hate in nausea generating hand-held detail on your TV screens and
speaking in mind-numbing interviews on radio.

Here we go again, but never like the last time (which for me was the
Vietnam War). It's different, but it's still war, its still lives cut short
on the sacrificial altar of commercial and political power. The sages are
consistent in their advice, know oneself, travel not with Envy nor Greed
nor Fear nor Hate.